By Keith Regan, Contributing Writer
Westborough – Printed copies of street listings, zoning bylaws and the town's zoning map will cost a little more to buy from the Town Clerk's office.
The Board of Selectmen June 10 approved modest increases in the fees, bumping zoning maps and bylaws from $5 to $10 and boosting the price for street listings from $12 to $15. Residents 70 and over will not be charged for street listings.
The increase comes a couple weeks after selectmen voted to increase road opening permits significantly, boosting them from $20 to $150.
Town Clerk Wendy Mickel said the town regularly loses money on the printed documents. For instance, in 2013, 250 copies of the listing of residents” addresses, ages and professions were printed at a cost of $2,900. But the town brought in just $711 from sales of the listing.
One reason for the deficit, Mickel said, is that she annually gives out about 200 of the books to volunteers on town boards and committees.
The discussion led to a brief debate about whether members of town boards and committees should be given copies of the documents for free.
Selectman Ian Johnson said he didn’t think it was fair for residents to have to buy their own documents while also subsidizing the cost of those begin distributed for free.
The board agreed to revisit that issue at a later date.
